SWC19 It's official Star Wars Celebration - April 11-15 2019 Chicago

I just called the McCormick place Con. center and asked about storage options for attendees. I asked about lockers, like the ones they had in the L.A. Cele. years ago. they said No. due to 9-11, they were removed. also, if Reed wanted to put up rooms for attendees to store their things during Cele. hours (again, L.A. con. center)Reed would have to contact McCormick and make arrangements with them, then it could be set up! that would be nice, don't you think? with a small fee and color coding.

 

Also on the first day was the initial entry line fiasco, which was a major reason for people complaining that too many people had badges. But really, it was the line that was majorly improperly managed. It was horrendous. But after that everything went smoothly in terms of capacity.

 

The poorly managed crowd in the autograph area needs to be addressed too.

 

I've been reading threads before work and now after work. I did find something interesting. Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois are all part of the Midwest. SW Fans have been waiting for ages for another Celebration. Think of the millions upon millions of folks in the area where sports, conventions, entertainment, etc., are king. I'm not making excuses here. I live in the Big Mitten and Ford Field was sold out for Wrestlemania in just a couple of hours in 2007 with over 84,000+ fans. This entire situation reminds me of that. I'm simply trying to put this in the right perspctive. If they build it, they will come.

 

What are the chances of getting a spot in the Hall for the big 'main panel'?

 

I'm guessing really good if you are in line late afternoon/early evening the night before, but we don't know exactly what the procedure will be.

 

That would definitely explain why a lot of people felt it was understaffed last year.

The increased capacity of the arena should make it a bit easier but after I'm fully expecting people to arrive even earlier anyway so that could potentially start a rush to queue. If the system is similar to last year I'd say you should be safe if you overnight (due to the increased capacity) but I wouldn't risk just turning up in the morning, the cut off will almost certainly be reached at some point in the night.

 

UPDATE:

 

Saturday adult tickets are now sold out.

 

"Will you have tickets for sale at the door?
We recommend you purchase your tickets to Star Wars Celebration as early as possible. We anticipate that there will be a very high demand for tickets and we wouldn’t want you to miss out! If there are tickets still available, you will be able to purchase them at Fan Services in the West Building. However, we anticipate that tickets will sell out early and well in advance of the show. If tickets sell out before the show, no more will be made available to purchase."
http://www.starwarscelebration.com/About/FAQs/

 

There will be no tickets left to sell on the door this time, not at the rate they're selling.

 

I must share this with all of you.
This is why we do what we do.
Enjoy.

https://www.google.com/search?q=beh...av9dHbAhWJ5IMKHdylBWwQsAQIKA&biw=1212&bih=715

 

I know Star Wars: The Old Republic is not in most people's fandom wheelhouse, but some cool news from the developers of the online game I got from a podcast:

So I definitely can't say 100% that there will be a cantina there, but we are absolutely planning to try and have a cantina there. I would put it as "please do not buy a ticket only to go to a cantina there because we can't -" [laughing] "I was going to say if I was a betting person I would bet on there being one but literally buying a ticket would be betting that there is one, so don't do that. We are actively talking to the people involved with Celebration to have a cantina at Celebration. Barring some type of extreme circumstances, I will definitely be there, and if nothing else, you can find me, and we can go to a bar." [laughing] "So I can't say there is a Cantina there. We're working on it. We've had one at the last 3, so good odds." source

A "cantina" is the nickname for their official events hosted where players usually meet up at a bar for some previews, free drinks, and swag and get a chance to meet the developers of the game.

 

That's cool!

 

New official blog post,

https://www.starwars.com/news/6-great-star-wars-celebration-moments

 

It's probably nostalgia talking due to the 20th anniversary celebrations, but it'd be neat if we had JC swag / merch / however you wanna call it, at the next Celebration (e.g. shirts from Celebration Europe 1).

 

For those scratching the Celebration itch by going to SDCC this year, TFN Main have a guide to all things Star Wars at Comic Con. Hit the link to see what's on offer!

 

Thanks for that.

Although, the thing I hate about Star Wars programming at SDCC is that it's always so crowded. That room 7AB that all of the panels are being held in on Friday literally has a line outside of it the entire day. And people just wait in it until they get into the panel room. For a lot of people, it's the only time they will have a significant amount of legit Star Wars content to attend at a convention. And for a lot of Star Wars fanatics, it simply isn't feasible to travel to every single Celebration whenever it's held. So instead they take advantage of the next best thing.

 

I think if I ever manage to go to SDCC then I might pick one day I'm prepared to sacrifice and try for a big panel, other days I'll stick to the show floor and maybe some of the "smaller" panels. Just can't justify all that time in line when I've flown around the world to be at the convention.

That's the main reason I liked the wristbands. Sure getting up stupidly early every day wasn't great, but at least pretty much all my queuing was done before the day started. After that I only had to spend significant time in line if I wanted to try and get near the front. I just felt like I got so much more out of my days.

 

That shouldn't be a problem at Celebration...

 

Hah! I was kind of implying that I get plenty of that at Celebration anyway. And I would rather completely immerse myself at Celebration. And then at other cons, it gives me a chance to pay attention to the other franchises I like.

 

I do the same. The only time I wait a long time in line is to do an overnight for a panel that is in the morning. Barring some exceptions, for the most part, I won't wait more than an hour for a panel. I've actually attended some really interesting panels in the past that I've just walked into randomly because all the other panels I wanted to go to were already at capacity and/or required a significant wait.

The thing about the show floor, is after the first couple of days, it can kind of start to get repetitive. Not that it doesn't remain enjoyable to continually browse through. But there are times it can seem less than preferable to do again, simply because you've done it so many times already. So instead, you take a break from the show floor and go do some panels. It's a back and forth like that.

I actually even have a rule that, again, barring some exceptions, I follow pretty closely. But basically at any big convention I go to, the first thing I do is take 2-3 hours and give the show floor a thorough walk through. That way I know what's there, and right from the start it eliminates that nagging feeling that I have to go see everything on the show floor. And from then on, it just becomes that back and forth, and I easily alternate between panels and the show floor. But it's that initial walk through that really helps me to settle down my mind and get into that pattern for the rest of the convention.

 

I feel the same way about the show floor. I like to do a thorough walkthrough on the first day. At non-Celebration cons, I'm always cosplaying, so subsequent floor visits are mainly to pick off photos with cosplayers I haven't seen yet.

 

TFN Main have posted parts 2 & 3 of their SDCC Guide to SW Events:
Part 2: Special guests and autographs
Part 3: Vendors and fan tables. There's also a link to the floorplan

Clone Wars: Panalist details